With the latest so called “Master Key” exploit attracting widespread attention, Google had to act quick, and it really did. It issued a patch that took care of the vulnerability to its OEM partners, and patched the Play Store almost immediately. Problem solved, right? Not quite, as you probably thought. Despite Google's best intentions, OEMs are infamous for their slow update cycles, and there was no telling exactly when the critical mass of Android devices would be protected from a threat that was already spreading in the wild.

Fortunately for everybody involved, word has gotten out that Google has, in a brilliant move, bolstered the security of some 95% of devices out there, and here's how. Remember Bouncer? It's Google's watchdog overseeing the security of its proprietor's Play Store. Well, with Android 4.2, Google introduced some of the functionality of Bouncer and called it Verify Apps. The new service would watch for each and every app that you download regardless of its source – be it the original app store or a side-loaded app from a third-party store – and guard you against attacks.

So where does that 95% figure come from? According to ComputerWorld, Google has made the Verify Apps service a part of the entire Google Play Services package (think Gmail, Maps and Youtube), and it is available for every single device running Android 2.3 Gingerbread and above. Or about 95% of all Android devices, according to Google's own stats.

"We wanted to make sure those protections were available even for users who were choosing to install applications from a source other than Google Play," Android Security Engineer Adrian Ludwig told ComputerWorld. "It's always been a focus for Android to make sure that we're supporting an open ecosystem and that it's possible for users to get applications that developers, for any number of reasons, aren't distributing through [the official Play Store channel]."

The ramifications of this are huge, folks! By deconstructing Android in this way, Google will be able to skip the glacier-slow OEMs and be able to issue security updates largely on its own. With this, and the recently unearthed “Apps Ops” feature making its debut in Android 4.3, Google really seems to have stepped up its game in terms of security, and we're the happier for it.

And in the coming weeks we will hear about a Malware that will affect android phones ! They fixed one but there is still many floating out there !
WOW you are so happy about this fix android fans ! Well you shouldn't to be cause being secure is your RIGHT and though still 5% of android users which are millions( according to your calculations ) might be in danger and you can be ONE in these MILLIONS !

I don't know why you are impressed they just did nothing except their work.

Theoreticaly, OEMs don't must to update the devices (especially the old devices), because google secure the play store - the official place for downloading apps.
So if you download app from other place - it is your own problem (Apple...).
I don't say that the OEM shouldn't update old device, but about this bug - they don't must to.

But google did it, so All the compliments are for Google, for not forget the old devices...

Well the iPhone 3GS was released with iOS 3.0 and got iOS 4 , 5 and 6 update ;) tell me about the nexus one how much google supported it ?? ;) don't consider ROMs and other stuff !
And if you wanna compare 4.3 to an apple release it almost like iOS 4.1 , 4.2.1 and 4.3 combined so this is not an incremental update bringing tons of new features !

According to what you have said then you believe that google must leave its android users in the battle and must do nothing about it cause they have already gave them a head armor only ! Most android users use third party stores to get there apps, and its google's responsibility to protect them! Securing the play store is not enough at all ( I bet most android fans here will disagree with you on this point ) you are so wrong

its funny when u mention the difference between 4.1, 4.2.1 and 4.3 when there is not even anything new from 1.0 to your so called latest and most innovative 7.0, besides copying bits and bytes of goodness from Android, Windows and Blackberry.

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